Credit Reports In Los Angeles

New Consumer Law 2012

AB 22–
Chapter 724 – Civil Code §1785.20.5; Lab. Code §1024.5

Effective
January 1, 2012

Summary: Prohibits an employer or
prospective employer from using a consumer credit report for employment
purposes (with certain exceptions when it is allowed).

Background: The federal Fair Credit
Reporting Act and the California Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act
authorizes the use of consumer credit reports for employment purposes under
certain requirements. For many years, employers from various sectors have run
credit checks on job applicants.

The New Law: Prohibits a current or
prospective employer to use a consumer credit report for employment purposes
unless applicant is applying for or is currently holding the following
positions:

• Managerial position.
• Position with the California Department of Justice.
• Sworn peace officer or other law enforcement position.
• Position that involves regular access to the bank or
  credit card information, social security number, and date of birth of any
  one person.
• Position in which the person is named a signatory on
  the bank or credit card account of the employer.
• Position involving the authority to conduct certain
  financial transactions on behalf of the employer.
• Position that involves access to confidential or
  proprietary information.
• Position that involves regular access to cash totaling
  $10,000 or more.
• Position for which the information contained in the
  report is required by law to be disclosed or obtained.

Empower – Educate – Take Action
H & I Credit Solutions

When a child support agency pulls your credit, you may be asking yourself if this is legal! According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) this is completely legal. Your credit report can be pulled by the head of state or a child support enforcement agency.

Child support in fact does have some sort of affect on your credit report so it is important to understand some basics. When an agency or head of state request your credit report there are 4 main things you should know. They are listed below.

1. Ability to make child support payments or appropriate level of payments
2. Paternity of the consumer of the child to which the obligation relates has been established or acknowledged by the consumer in accordance with their state laws.
3. State head or agency must provide at least 10 days prior notice to the consumer by certified or registered mail to the last known address that the report will be requested.
4. The credit report will be kept confidential. It will only be used for what is listed in number 1. It will not be used in connection with any other civil, administrative, or criminal proceeding, or for any other purpose.

Having said that, the main things you need to know are you have to be notified, it will be kept confidential and it is pulled to determine your ability to pay. You can find this information on FTC’s website and search for FCRA. You will find it in section 604(4)(a-d).

Empower – Educate – Take Action

H & I Credit Solutions

Just as most of consumers in the United States have had, you may have fallen on an unfortunate situation that was out of your hands & it left you with an outstanding debt that was sent to a collection agency. Six to eight months later it is bounced to another collection agency, then another, then another, and another. When & where does this cycle stop? You are left asking yourself “when is this going to end”?

Believe it or not, debts have an expiration date. If you will, kind of like expiration dates on certain food items. This expiration date is known as a “Statute of Limitations”. This opens the questions: What exactly is a Statute of Limitations? How does Statute of Limitations help me?

The Statute of Limitations of a credit report item will keep debt collectors and even the original creditor from trying to collect on the alleged debt indefinitely. Imagine, 20 years from now, you are still receiving harassing phone calls for you to pay a debt. Before you give up & agree to pay an aged debt, make sure that the Statute of Limitations on your credit report item has not expired. If the Statute of Limitations on that debt has expired, you may not ever have to pay that old debt collection.

The Statute of Limitations for collecting a debt is the time period in which a collector or creditor can utilize the court to force you to pay. This time period starts on the date of the last recorded activity on the delinquent account. Keep in mind though, the Statute of Limitations vary from state to state.

Some debt collectors and creditors will still attempt to collect a debt even when the Statute of Limitations has expired. Their mindset is, maybe the consumer (you) has no clue about the Statute of Limitations! If you do not educate yourself in your legal right, they will try to bully you into paying them. Some may even threaten you with a lawsuit.

IMPORTANT: The Statute of Limitations can start over if you make a payment (large or small), make a promise to pay, or if you agree to setup a payment plan to pay off your reported debt.

When you do any of the following listed in the “important” message you restart the clock on the Statute of Limitations for that account or collection item. This meaning, if you only had one (1) more month remaining before the Statute of Limitations is up for your collection & you are free and clear, and you agree to any of the afore mentioned, you start back at zero. You just reset the Statute of Limitations to start all over again.

Find out what the Statute of Limitations on a credit report item is in your State, by going here.

Empower – Educate – Take Action

H & I Credit Solutions

Some folks are under the impression that the older the items are the easier they are to remove. Is that true? Sometimes it is, sometimes not. Depending on the type of item that is being reported it really depends as always if the item is verifiable, accurate or misleading.

Just because an item is old doesn’t mean that it will be easy to remove. Remember, if your old items are verifiable and accurate, they will not be removed. The FCRA strictly states that the credit reporting agencies have to report verifiable and accurate information.

Now, having said that, if your old item or any item is NOT verifiable or accurate it has to be changed or deleted.

Having an accurate credit report with verifiable information will allow consumers to better represent themselves when applying for a loan. It will empower consumers by knowing exactly what is on their report and know what their credit scores are.

It is a great feeling knowing where you stand when negotiating for a loan. There will not be any surprises.

As always Empower Yourself – Educate Yourself – Take Action

H & I Credit Solutions

A lot of consumers want to do something about their credit for many reasons. The problem is that most people do not know what they need to do to take that first step in repairing their credit. The first step to repairing your own credit is very simple.

Step One: You must find out what is on your credit report.

I’ll admit, that I thought at one point, I pay all my bills on time so there is nothing negative on my credit report. My thinking was completely understandable because, if I pay all my bills and I haven’t done anything to jeopardize my report then it should be ok, right? Well stop right there, just because you are a responsible consumer doesn’t mean that someone else hasn’t stolen your identity.

So back to the first step…

Obtain a copy of your credit report from all three credit bureaus. This will allow you to see what is being reported and what is not being reported on each credit bureau. You may find that something that you were completely unaware of is reporting on your report. Something that is not even yours, how would that make you feel?

There are a lot of different sources of which you can pull your credit report. On a previous topic, I discussed how to get your credit report for free from www.annualcreditreport.com. The choice of how you receive your credit report is up to you. After you choose a method, get your copy and look through it. So that is your first step. Remember, all negative items on your credit report have to be verifiable. If the negative items are not verifiable, then by law it has to be removed.

Take that first step.

H & I Credit Solutions